I'm director of the Reynolds Center for Business Journalism at the Cronkite School at Arizona State. I'm also author of the Forbes eBook Curbing Cars: America's Independence From The Auto Industry. I was Detroit bureau chief for the New York Times, and led Changing Gears, a public media project that studied the industrial Midwest. E: vmaynard@umich.edu T @mickimaynard @curbingcars

Small Towns, Big Cities Search For Clues To Reinvent Michigan

Michigan suffered most of any state from the Great Recession. Unemployment soared above 14 percent as its most famous companies pleaded for government help. And while its fortunes are improving, the Great Lakes State is searching mightily for ideas to get its future on track.

Luckily, there’s no shortage of people trying to play their part, as business journalism students at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant discovered.

Since January, these reporters, photographers, and videographers have fanned out across the state, in search of stories about the reality Michigan faces and the ideas that could set it back on its feet.

This week, these students, under my direction, unveiled Reinventing Michigan. Its subtitle is The Rebirth of Michigan, Hopeful Solutions For Moving Forward.

I spent the winter and spring at CMU as the Donald Reynolds Visiting Professor of Business Journalism, a program sponsored by Arizona State University. The students taking part in Reinventing Michigan enrolled in the first-ever business journalism classes offered by CMU, which has one of the state’s best-known journalism schools.

From tiny St. Helen, in the northern lower peninsula, Matt Varcak tells the story of the brand-new Charlton Heston Academy, a charter school that took the place of a defunct elementary school. In less than a year, CHA, named for the town’s most famous former resident, has become St. Helen’s biggest employer. (You can see Varcak’s video on the school below.)

Alma, north of Lansing, the state capitol, is better known for its college than its organic farmers. But Shawn Tonge found one who moved back from Ohio and decided to create a new market, supplying local chefs in the process.

Greenville, a small industrial town, is the focus of a personal story from Benjamin Raven. He watched his hometown lose its primary employer, and then the business that came in behind it. Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm talks to Raven about how Greenville’s demise still haunts her.

Many people think Michigan’s problems began with the most recent recession, but Kate Barnes dives into data and finds the roots of the state’s downturn pre-date the 2008 downfall. She finds the state still has far to go before it can claim a recovery.

In Mount Pleasant, the home of CMU, one local businessman always dreamed of owning a bookstore. He does, as Adam Niemi and Aaron McMann report: a thriving comic book store.

Ann Arbor’s best known food empire, Zingerman’s, is constantly reinventing itself, including a recent renovation of the deli that made it famous. Jeff Papworth says Ari Weinzweig, the co-owner of Zingerman’s thinks its ideas might help the state.

Young entrepreneurs are everywhere in Michigan. In March, they competed for $60,000 in prizes on the CMU campus. Melissa Richards’ photo essay looks at the annual New Venture Competition.

Sparta, near Grand Rapids, is joining a growing industry in Michigan: microbreweries. Alexandra Woolworth looks at the newest brewer to dive into the field.

Please take a look at Reinventing Michigan, which was designed by Ashley Falk. What are your ideas for reinventing the state? Let us know your reaction to Reinventing Michigan, either here or on the Web site.

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